Experts say Donald Trump’s transition team is trying to pull the US out of the World Health Organization on the first day of the new administration.
Publish dateSunday 22 December 2024 - 15:56
Story Code : 302814
Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): Members of Trump’s team have told experts that they plan to announce the withdrawal from the World Health Organization at the inauguration of the president-elect on January 20. The move would eliminate the organization’s largest source of funding and harm its ability to respond to public health crises such as the coronavirus pandemic.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown Law School, said: “The US will leave a huge gap in global health funding and leadership. I don’t see anyone filling that gap.”
He went on to stress that the plan to withdraw on the first day would be “catastrophic” for global health.
The debate over the US relationship with the WHO began after US President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had nominated Robert F. Kennedy, who has doubts about vaccines, to hold key health jobs in the next administration, according to the Financial Times. However, Gostin said he was not sure that Trump would prioritize an immediate exit from the organization as much as some members of his team.
The US is the WHO’s largest financial donor, providing about 16% of its budget in 2022-2023.
Trump began the process of withdrawing from the WHO earlier in 2020, during his first term, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, accusing the organization of being controlled by China. But that process never came to fruition, and his successor, Joe Biden, resumed relations with it on his first day in office in 2021.
Experts have been told that some members of Trump’s transition team want to move faster this time around after the process began immediately. They say Trump’s team has asked him to step down from the organization on day one, as a sign of reversing Biden’s own inauguration-day move.
“There are a lot of people who will be part of the administration’s inner circle who don’t trust the WHO and want to symbolically show on day one that they are out,” said Ashish Jha, a former Biden White House COVID-19 coordinator and dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
He noted that some members of the team wanted to stay with the organization and work to fix it, but another group that believed in cutting ties was winning the argument.
The Trump transition team and the WHO have not yet commented directly on Washington’s potential exit from the organization.
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown Law School, said: “The US will leave a huge gap in global health funding and leadership. I don’t see anyone filling that gap.”
He went on to stress that the plan to withdraw on the first day would be “catastrophic” for global health.
The debate over the US relationship with the WHO began after US President-elect Donald Trump announced that he had nominated Robert F. Kennedy, who has doubts about vaccines, to hold key health jobs in the next administration, according to the Financial Times. However, Gostin said he was not sure that Trump would prioritize an immediate exit from the organization as much as some members of his team.
The US is the WHO’s largest financial donor, providing about 16% of its budget in 2022-2023.
Trump began the process of withdrawing from the WHO earlier in 2020, during his first term, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, accusing the organization of being controlled by China. But that process never came to fruition, and his successor, Joe Biden, resumed relations with it on his first day in office in 2021.
Experts have been told that some members of Trump’s transition team want to move faster this time around after the process began immediately. They say Trump’s team has asked him to step down from the organization on day one, as a sign of reversing Biden’s own inauguration-day move.
“There are a lot of people who will be part of the administration’s inner circle who don’t trust the WHO and want to symbolically show on day one that they are out,” said Ashish Jha, a former Biden White House COVID-19 coordinator and dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
He noted that some members of the team wanted to stay with the organization and work to fix it, but another group that believed in cutting ties was winning the argument.
The Trump transition team and the WHO have not yet commented directly on Washington’s potential exit from the organization.
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